


Butterfly

by Jells_Song



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: All the future children are in this too, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Apocalypse, Canon Divergence - The Dark Future, Eventual Romance, I had to pair everyone up because of the kids, I tried my best to make the bad future make sense in my own way, If you don't want to see your favorite characters dying DON'T READ THIS, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Pre-Apocalypse, Slow Burn, Spoilers, Spoilers for a LOT of supports, Summary may change, Tags May Change, Tragedy, Villager girl as Chrom's wife, in the past were everything went to shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-23 06:54:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23174131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jells_Song/pseuds/Jells_Song
Summary: Gaius often wondered, now, if there was a way to stop what happened back then. To stop the horrible fate that was put in motion that day. If he could've done anything to save Robin of becoming the monster that brought the end of their world, to save Chrom of his premature death by the hands of his most trusted friend.He never found an answer.
Relationships: Chrom/Guire | Gaius, Guire | Gaius & Liz | Lissa, Guire | Gaius & Lucina
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Butterfly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mweee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mweee/gifts).



> This is a story I had in my head for a long time, since I first began to ship Chrom and Gaius together, with a lot of "what if's" and some tries at working through plot holes on things Lucina said during the game while making Chromgai possible.  
> The title came from a super cute HC I found on tumblr - that Gaius would nickname Lucina "Butterfly". I found a lot of posts using that same HC, but I couldn't find who originally came up with it. If you know (or if it was you!), let me know so I can credit properly! 
> 
> Dedicated to my dear friend Kiki, who heard me babble about them for hours and encouraged me to finally write this in the first place. Thank you so much!!!

Laughter. A cold, sharp laughter. It marked the beginning of the end. 

He could hear it clearly from the other side of the flames. It made his blood freeze, even if he couldn't see what was happening beyond the magical fiery curtain. All he knew was that Chrom and Robin were there, fighting Validar, and that laugh could only mean bad news. 

After everything he's been through in his life, it took a lot to make Gaius nervous. To utterly and truly make him tremble, head to toe. It takes a huge amount of fearlessness and an extreme trust to one's instincts to become a thief and live as long as he has. But, at that moment, every single cell in his body was screaming at him to run as fast as he could, as far away as he could from whatever was on the other side of the battlefield.

He did not. As he brought down the last enemy soldier, he paid no heed to his instinct for the first time in years; all he could think about was if his friends were save. 

He cared about the Shepherds, more than he could admit out loud, more than he ever thought himself capable of. Gaius was given a home within them, and it became something precious to him. He cherished it. Cherished them. The thought of leaving them behind was absurd to him, now.

But, as he looked around, he knew he wasn't the only one who felt it. His fellow Shepherds all looked anxious, on the edge. Scared, all fighting that same primal instinct that invaded him, too.

Something was very, _very_ wrong.

They've been trying to disperse the flame wall for a while now, but even Henry and Tharja's combined effort had no effect on it. There was no sound from the other side after the laugh, which was more ominous than the laugh had been. No sign of their leader or their tactician. 

After discovering no way through the barrier, all they could do was wait. Wait, and pray.

_Gaius often wondered, now, if there was a way to stop what happened back then. To stop the horrible fate that was put in motion that day. If he could've done anything to save Robin of becoming the monster that brought the end of their world, to save Chrom of his premature death by the hands of his most trusted friend._

_He never found an answer._

When the flames finally started weakening, he was the first to reach the other side. He had burned his arm in his haste and it hurted like hell - unlikely any burn wound he had before -, but the thief paid no attention to it. For all of it was focused on the body on the ground.

"Blue!!" 

In seconds, Gaius was by his side, cradling Chrom's head in his arms. Frederick was just behind him, Lissa on tour, her staff already held high, ready to cure her brother. But, Gaius found out, as he rested his hand on the other man's chest, there was no need for a healer. 

Because Chrom was no longer breathing.

It felt like his heart had given up on him; everything became a blur. He couldn't hear Lissa scream, couldn't hear Frederick's distressed cry. Couldn't hear his own voice as it cracked and tore it's way through his throat. He was only half aware of Libra holding him, dragging him away from the prince's body, trying to calm him down.

Chrom… Blue was dead. He was _dead_. 

His throat hurt, his eyes stung and his lungs burned from the inside. The deep, deep blue of Chrom's irises was the only thing he could focus on. Where once had been warmth, only cold remains. And, as his vision darkened, Gaius could feel that cold all too well.

_It wasn't supposed to be like this._

  
  


───────────────────

  
  


Robin wasn't anywhere to be found. The magic on Chrom's body, the magic that killed him, Miriel later informed them, with grief clear in her usually stoic face, was the tactician's. 

Gaius wasn't sure what was worse. Losing Chrom, or knowing that he met his end by Robin's hands.

No one wanted to believe it, every single one of the Shepherds was in denial. Vaike, who never stopped talking, was quiet, aloof, missing his best friend and rival. Cordelia had been crying earlier; Sumia did her best to comfort her, but wasn't able to hold back tears of her own as she hugged the other. Frederick worked harder than ever, not stopping for even a minute. Tharja disappeared completely; looking for Robin, Gaius thought. He didn't believe she would be coming back, not without her husband. And… there was still Lissa.

He hadn't seem Lissa since they found the prince. The thief felt for her more than anyone else at the moment. Not so long ago, she had lost a sister. Now, her brother.

Lissa was a good friend. He never thought he would befriend a princess, but Lissa wasn't like he expected one to be. She wasn't snooty or selfish. Lissa was cheerful and a prankster; she liked to play tricks on others, and they had lots of fun together doing so. She always saved for him some of the expensive cakes and sweets Maribelle brought for tea, much to the other girl dismay, and tried her best at houseworking, no matter that it wasn't a job for her to do. Lissa wasn't what he expected a princess to be at all. 

_But then,_ he thought _, neither was Chrom._

He hoped her husband would be able to soothe her pain, even if just a little bit. She didn't deserve to suffer anymore.

  
  


───────────────────

  
  


There was no time to mourn, as harshly as it sounded. They had to get back to Ylisstol. With the Fire Emblem lost to Validar and Chrom's demise, Frederick was certain the capitol was in danger. Making sure the castle was secure and the people unharmed was their priority; what they would do next, with another dead Exalt so soon and the war against the fell dragon threatening to fall on their heads at any given moment... they would figure out after that.

The Shepherds departed hidden by the darkness of the early morning. The ominous feeling, stuck to them since that laughter sounded across the battlefield, only worsened through the night. Most of them weren't able to sleep. Gaius certainly couldn't; Chrom's face kept flashing in his head every time he closed his eyes, burned into memory. 

It was so hard to remember him, then, when he was alive. To recall the warmth that seemed ever present in his eyes - _cold, unblinking_ -, the color his face would take when he got embarrassed - _sickly, pale_ -, how he would smile that smile that was only his, a smile that held the sun in it - _mouth slack, half open in eternal shock_. 

Trying to remember hurt. Remembering Blue wasn't with them - never would be again - hurt. He spend the entire night trying not to think about the prince and inevitably thinking about him in a inescapable circle, only to realize it was morning and they had to leave.

He sneaked a look at the wagon Frederick's horse was pulling. He didn't dare look at it again for the whole trip.

After hours marching, when they paused to let their horses rest and quench their thirst in a nearby river for some minutes and to replenish their own water gallons as well, he saw Lissa for the first time since the day before, sitting away from the others on the riverbank.

She was staring unseeing on the direction of the water, golden hair undone, falling over her back. Henry sat beside her in the grass, holding her hand in silence. He was not good with grief, didn't know how to deal with it without killing everything on sight. It wasn't an option, in this case, and in light of his wife's pain, he seemed completely lost, usual smirk gone from his lips. Lissa's eyes, red rimmed, had bags underneath them; she certainly didn't sleep as well. 

She looked so fragile, so small, probably the most un-princess-like she ever looked before. Seeing her like that hurt Gaius almost as much as the sign of Chrom's body.

Cautiously, he approached them. Lissa, unmoving, didn't seem to notice him, but Henry lifted his head at his presence. In a silent agreement, Henry let his hold on Lissa's hand go, petted her head briefly, and left to join the others. The dark mage knew he could trust Lissa to Gaius. 

The two of them didn't always get along and he knew he creeped the other out, but he also knew how much Lissa cared about Gaius, and that he cared a whole lot about her in return. 

And so, he hoped Gaius would be more successful than him.

As Henry's cape faded in the distance, Gaius took his place and sat behind Lissa. As delicately as he could, he started styling her hair back into her usual pigtails. He worked quietly and slowly, using his fingers to undo knots and separate the soft strands. As he paused with one lock of hair held on one hand, searching his pockets for something to tie it with the other, her voice came, so soft and low he almost mistook it for the passing breeze.

"...what should I do now, Gaius?"

He stopped completely. Then, giving up on finding an appropriate hair tie, put her hair gently back down again, and waited.

When Lissa started talking, she normally needed some time to compose herself, then went on. Gaius had been her confident enough times to know how she worked, and specially this time, he didn't want to interrupt so soon. She needed to talk, to get what she was feeling off her chest. She just needed time.

Surely enough, after a moment, she started again, just as soft:

"My brother… Chrom is dead. What do we do now?" Her shoulders seemed to tremble a bit as she repeated the question "I… When Emmeryn died… it was horrible, too. But... But at least… at least I still had Chrom. We had one another. Now… N-Now I'm alone" the trembling overtook her completely, then, and by her voice, Gaius could tell she had begun to cry, too "I… I can't. I can't bear this. I-I can't _rule_ the halidom in C-Chrom's place. I'm not r-ready. I'm... not ready to n-not have him by my s-side".

She turned, tears overflowing from her light eyes. Looking directly at them made Gaius's chest hurt even more.

"Gaius, what should I do now...?"

He hugged her as hard as he could, feeling tears welling up on his own eyes as well, and Lissa retributed it in kind, sobs wrecking her small body. 

Before he could say anything to her, footsteps warned them to someone's else presence. 

"Sorry! We are all set. They asked me to come get you two" Gaius lifted his head at the cheerful voice. Henry had come back "...It's time to go" he completed, in a more serious tone. 

They separated slowly, Lissa did her best to recompose herself, and Gaius wiped his eyes as inconspicuously as he could. When he turned back again, Henry had his hand outstretched to him; two lacy hair bands sat on his palm. He looked at the dark mage, and nodded as he took them, before turning back to Lissa.

"Princess, may I?"

She still seemed shaken, and her body still shock time from time from the sobs, but she nodded at him, and kept still while he restarted the work he had began earlier. 

"I don't have the answers either" he told her in a low voice, in a way only Lissa was able to hear him "I'm… not sure what we ought to do now, but…" he tied her hair up, fixing the pig tails on their usual stylized way. He glanced at Henry, who observed them quietly " You have your husband. You have your kid. And you have me, too. I'll support you in anyway I can, Lissa"

At the use of her actual name, she turned to look him in the eye, looking a lot more like herself with her normal hairstyle again.

"You are not alone".

  
  


───────────────────

  
  


The Shepherds avoided the few armies of Risen and Plegians they encountered alike, making their way back to Ylisstol fast and uneventful. With the road so quiet, one would expect the capitol to be in the same way. 

No such luck.

They noticed immediately something was wrong as they arrived in the borders of the town; no guards awaited in their post by the entrance. At first, they didn't hear anything besides their own horses galloping their way to the gate. Then, as they got closer and closer to it, gradually, that quietude was broken.

Swords, lances and axes clashing. Bolts of magic in the air. The grunts of the Risens. Screams.

Without a plan or a tactician to guide them, the Shepherds hushed into the town, immediately readying themselves to battle, Frederick leading them. With no other option, he released the wagon from his horse and ordered a few soldiers to keep it save. Gaius unintentionally glanced, his heart clenching at the sigh as he joined the others, leaving it behind. 

The town was pure chaos. Villagers running from risens, leaving behind houses on fire. Corpses littered the streets, soldiers and civilians alike. The level of destruction was like nothing Gaius had ever seen before; it looked like the world was ending. 

Worse yet, he noticed, with another painful clench in his chest, the royal castle was on fire.

“We need to make sure the royal family is save!” Yelled Frederick over the dying moan of a Risen his axe decapitated.

“How?!?” Came Sully’s reply as she impaled another with her lance “By the time we get there, the whole thing will be _ashes_!”

“We have to make our way through somehow!” Sumia screamed as she attacked from sky “I can fly there and get them!”

“No, Sumia!!!” Cordelia appeared above Gaius, blasting a few Risens with a powerful gust of wind “There are archers on the rooftops! I almost got hit!”

“Frederick!” Lissa said from the back of Henry’s horse as the dark mage hexed more Risens with gleeful pleasure in his face “We have to save them!”

The great knight looked conflicted at his companions, considering all their options of action while bringing Risen by Risen down. He tried to make way with his horse through the undead masses, but there was too many of them. Even with their combined efforts, they wouldn’t make it to the castle in time. After a moment, then, Frederick lifted his head, resolve written on his features.

“Gaius, go ahead of us. Protect and guide the family of the exalt to safety!”

“What?” the thief replied, cutting down another undead soldier “Are you crazy?!?”

“We can’t get through with our horses. Cordelia, Sumia and Cherche can’t fly with the archers ready to attack them. You are the fastest of our ranks by foot, and you know these streets like the back of your hand” Frederick turned to face him “No one else can do this. I’ll send a squad of others behind you, to help evacuate the castle and take the children to somewhere save, but if you wait to go all together, they will only slow you down. Rendezvous at the Northern Gate when you are done” Gaius stared at him. Frederick’s eyes betrayed his stone cold expression; they showed all the pain he felt on these past twenty four hours, all the pain he was still enduring “Please, Gaius”. 

Unable to deny his request, Gaius set off, darting through the Risens and onto the streets swiftly, avoiding the undead soldiers and slashing down the ones he couldn’t brush off, making his way through the town and towards the castle as fast as possible. As he turned the first corner, he saw some of the others after him, but, as ordered, didn't wait around for them to catch up. 

Frederick had been clear. If there was any chance of saving the royal family, Gaius was the only one who could do it.

So, he run. Not looking back. Not waiting. Chrom was dead, but there was still a chance to save his loved ones from sharing his fate.

He wouldn't let Chrom's legacy end.

  
───────────────────  
  


Hot. Every door knob singed his fingers as he pried them open, his voice lost in the middle of the chaos of falling debris and burning wood. The flames were already high when Gaius finally got to the castle, licking the walls and the tapestries of the once beautiful building. The ones by the royal chambers were aflame, too. 

And it didn't look any better on the inside.

The thief coughed and pulled his cloak over his nose, protecting himself from the smoke and the ashes. 

A great part of the room had been destroyed; most of the expensive furniture broken and ruined under the remains of the ceiling. 

There wasn't anyone in it.

"...No" He stepped in the room, searching for someone, anyone "No!!"

He was too late. Not a single living soul had made it out of the palace; the carbonized bodies he passed on his way to the tower were prove of it.

The burning feeling in his throat had nothing to do with the inferno around him, nor the prickling in his eyes. 

_He was too late_. He wasn't able to fulfill Frederick's plea.

The royal family was dead. 

He didn't had time to feel guilty, however: The ceiling, or what was left of it, creaked ominously; it didn't look like it would hold on for much longer. He needed a fast way out.

Turning away from the wreckage, Gaius dashed to the hole on the outer wall, were the balcony once was. Even with the height, leaving through it would be easier and faster than trying to dodge all the debris and flames and burned bodies again - principally the latter. The only thing Gaius would be able to think about as he passed by them was which one belonged to the people he failed to protect. He couldn't stomach that.

One of his legs was already over the edge when a sound, coming from under the debris, made him freeze on the spot.

Mechanically, he turned his head, staring at where the sound came from.

He probably imagined it. The chances that something had survived being buried alive by all that rubble was minimal. He was running out of time and all the stress and grief were causing him to mentally conjure things that simply couldn't be. He almost convinced himself that the noise was really fruit of his imagination when it sounded again.

Immediately, Gaius was back in the room, running to reach the debris and removing as much of it as he could from the general direction of what was emitting the noise. His fingers, sensible from all the burns he had suffered earlier, started bleeding halfway through. 

He ignored them. He ignored the pain. He ignored the part of the ceiling that fell behind him. He ignored everything else, focused only on getting whatever was under that wreckage _out_.

Gaius gasped as the floor finally started becoming visible; he could see someone's arm sticking out of the shambles. He grabbed it, but promptly let it go again with another gasp.

It was cold. Inhumanly so.

The sound was louder now, though. Even if still a bit muffled. So, he continued, until he was able to pull the body free from the debris.

The sound got even louder, then. And, seeing the body laid down on the floor, on a fetal position, unmoving, Gaius could pretty much guess exactly what happened when the ceilings gave out. 

Murmuring a small prayer to Naga, he turned the woman over and carefully took the wiggling form she held on her arms.

It was covered with something he thought could be a blanket, dirty from the ashes and still moving even in his arms. There was nothing muffling the noise it was making, now. 

The tears he had held back so much were falling freely then, as Gaius held the small form closer to his face. He smiled despite himself, watching a tiny hand reaching for him through the layers of cloth.

"...Hey there" Gaius said, taking the petite hand on his own "You must've been really scared, huh?" Unmatched eyes stared up at him, wet with tears "I'm sorry. It's okay now. I've got you" 

He embraced the small form to his chest, gently. Feeling it's warmth. Feeling it's life. 

The warm ray of light, shining brightly against all the darkness around them.

"I've got you… Lucina"

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> And... this is just the beginning. Thank you for reading to the end! This is my first long-fic in years, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to update (the second chapter is almost finished, but I'm that kind of writer that type 10 words once in a blue moon or finish an entire chapter in one sitting when the muse hits hard), but I'll try my best! I'm actually posting this before finishing the second one to see if I can get out of writer's block ;v; 
> 
> I rewatched all the kids supports to try and be as much faithfully to canon as I can. I also found some CDdramas that apparently take place in Lucina's future, so I'm hearing those too. I didn't play the DLCs, tho, and I would rather play them when I'm in an Awakening mood again than watch a gameplay, so that's the only content I don't have info on.  
> Thanks again! Hope to see you soon! And feel free to scream about Chromgai to me whenever you want; I love this ship A LOT!!!
> 
> **EDIT: Saw some small errors in the text so came back to edit. It's funny how we never notice those even if we read it a thousand times over before posting, and them miraculously spot them afterwards.   
> Also!!! English is NOT my native language, so if there's something wrong, it's completely my fault, and I would be really glad if you pointed it out so I can correct it XD


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